Sonic's Co-Creator Hirokazu Yasuhara, Joins Nintendo

[Hadrian]

First Sonic appeared on Nintendo's console.
Then Sega made F-Zero GX for Nintendo.
Then Sonic appeared in Smash Bros, a Nintendo published game.
Then Mario & Sonic both appeared in same games published by Sega.

What is next for the former rivals? Well the guy who co-created Sega's own "Mario killer" attempt has joined Nintendo.

Hirokazu Yasuhara, a long-time industry veteran and game director for the early Sonic the Hedgehog titles, has assumed a new role at Nintendo, Gamasutra has learned.

Both Nintendo and Yasuhara himself have confirmed the move, and while neither party revealed his new role, Yasuhara said he will be working at Nintendo of America in Redmond, Washington.

Throughout his career, Yasuhara has worked as a game designer for a number of major companies, and has contributed to some of the most successful games and franchises of the past two decades.

He got his start at Sega in 1988, where he served alongside Sonic co-creator Yuji Naka as the director, game planner, and designer for many of the original Sonic the Hedgehog titles for the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn, spanning the original Genesis title in 1991 to Sonic R in 1997. For his remaining time at Sega, Yasuhara worked on smaller games like Floigan Bros for the Sega Dreamcast.

Around 2000, Yasuhara spent some time at 2K Sports' Visual Concepts Entertainment division, and in 2002, he became a senior game designer at Naughty Dog, where he worked on the Jak & Daxter and Uncharted franchises.

Most recently, Yasuhara worked at Namco Bandai, where he helped create the 2010 release Pac-Man Party, a mini-game collection for Nintendo Wii that celebrated the 30th anniversary of Namco’s most iconic character.

According to Yasuhara’s LinkedIn profile, he left Namco Bandai just last month, and is now a full-fledged Nintendo employee at "Nintendo NST," or Nintendo Software Technology, a North American Nintendo subsidiary.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/168016/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_cocreator_Hirokazu_Yasuhara_joins_Nintendo.php

Titles by NST:

Bionic Commando: Elite Forces, Game Boy Color
Crystalis, Game Boy Color
Ridge Racer 64, Nintendo 64
Pokémon Puzzle League, Nintendo 64
Wave Race: Blue Storm, Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo Puzzle Collection, Nintendo GameCube
1080° Avalanche, Nintendo GameCube
Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Game Boy Advance
Ridge Racer DS, Nintendo DS
Metroid Prime Hunters, Nintendo DS
Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, Nintendo DS
Super Smash Bros Brawl, Nintendo Wii (Masterpiece Mode)
Crosswords DS, Nintendo DS
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, DSiWare
Aura-Aura Climber, DSiWare
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem, Nintendo DS

They were also behind the cancelled Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

What I'd give for a new Wave Race or 1080 game.

 

[Hyro-Sama]

Great. Make another F-Zero game now.

 

[OJClock]

Pokemon puzzle league please and thank you

 

[Gahars]

This is a shocking betrayal, and a travesty that besmirches the good name of Sega... or it would be if we were still living in the 90's, anyway.

Now? Good for him.

 

[Valwin]

years ago in the Sonic Vs mario years who could have seem this

 

[Bladexdsl]

let him work on the next mario game

 

[shakirmoledina]

if u cant beat em, join em which is probably the most intelligent thing to do here. Maybe he can make other nintendo games faster.